Process of preventing the degeneration of cotton-shrubs.



STATES ATE'r PROCESS OF PREVENTING THE DEGENERA'IION OF COTTON-SHRUBSQNo Drawing.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WOLDEMAR SoHtiTzE, a subject of the German Emperor,and residing at Berlin, Germany, have invented a certain new and usefulImproved Process of Preventing the Degeneration of Cotton- Shrubs, ofwhich the following is a specification.

.The subject-matter of my invention is a process for preventing thedegeneration of cotton-shrubs.

It is well-known that cotton-plants degenerate in a relatively shorttime and become unproductive, so that it is constantly necessary toproduce new plants by sowing the seed of the cotton-shrubs.

Now a primary object of my invention is to provide a process which in avery simple manner prevents this degeneration of cotton-shrubs andcauses the cotton-shrubs to provide uniform harvests for a considerablygreater number of years than has heretofore been the case.

My process consists in planting the seed of a mother-plant, which hasproved to be the bearer of a good cotton, in suitable man.- ner so thatplants develop from this seed. As soon as these plants have grown tosuch an extent that they admit of being grafted, they are headed, andslips from the motherplant which is known to be reliable are thengrafted on these headed plants. WVhen the plants thus grafted havedeveloped so that a number of new branches suitable for grafting havegrown, these shoots are-used for grafting the cotton-shrubs which are tobe protected from degeneration and which are then likewise suitablyheaded. Preferably one shoot is grafted onto each plant. Owing to thisgrafting, on the one hand the degeneration of the grafted plants isprevented, and, on the other hand, a cotton-shrub is produced whichsupplies uniform harvests for a considerable number of years, the kindand quality of the cotton produced being equal to that of the originalapproved Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 22, 1911.

Patented Nov. 14, 1911.

Serial No. 634,809.

mother-plant. Additional shoots can then be taken from these plants thusproduced.

It is to be understood that wild plants can be treated according to thepresent process.

If it is wished to carry the process into practice in the mannerheretofore universally employed in the culture of such plants by usingother plants, not grown from the seed of the mother-plant, as theintermediate plants which are grafted by the motherplant and are tosupply the shoots for protecting against degeneration, the end in viewcannot be obtained with certainty in this way. Complete success iscertainly obtained only when such plants are taken as intermediateplants as are grown from the seed of the mother-plant supplying theshoots for grafting, because in this manner the productive quality ofthe plant is so fixed by origin and ingrafting that it certainly proveseffectual when further grafting takes place.

When speaking of cotton shrubs I do not limit my invention to anyparticular species of cotton shrubs, and in my claim I intend the wordscotton shrubs to cover all species of the cotton family to which theprocess is applicable.

I claim The hereindescribed process of preventing the degeneration ofcotton-shrubs, which consists in growing new plants from the seed of aproductive mother -plant, in heading the new plants after they havesufliciently developed and grafting them with shoots from the saidmother-plant, in then cutting shoots from the sufficiently developedgrafted plants, and in grafting cotton-plants with the shoots.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

WOLDEMAR SGHIITZE.

WVitnesses WOLDEMAR HAUPT, HENRY HASPER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

